Interview with Neil Perch of Zion Train at the Rygerfjord hostel in Stockholm, Sweden. Interviewed by Jakob Levi on the 16:th of June 2005.

Zion Train is one of the few who have passed the test of time and progressed as well. After making themself a leading name on the UK reggae dub scene by putting out several good releases and continuesly touring, they have also made way for others like the Vibronics, Jah Free and Power Steppers by promoting and releasing their works on the Universal Egg record label. We linked up with founding member Neil Perch in Stockholm for a quik talk before he went along with the rest of the crew to continue their exceedingly long tour.

Guidelight Movement: Greetings Neil of Zion Train.

Neil Perch: Greetings.

GLM: Could you introduce yourself for those who don't know you and your music ?

NP: I'm Neil Perch the founding member of Zion Train which is a dub soundsystem and record producer outfit. I also run the record labels Deep Root and Universal Egg which Zion Train and associated musical products like my own, Love Grocer, Dubdadda and Vibronics all of that music are released on those labels. I've build a contructive website Wobblyweb which is the internet voice of all these things and I also run a soundsystem known as Abassi Hi Power out of Cologne, Germany.

GLM: Alright and how did Zion Train all come about on your side ?

NP: Well, originally I used to run with a soundsystem out of Oxford in England called the Train which was a soundsystem that had soul, hiphop and reggae with several selectors and several members. I was apart of the reggae element of that. Me and another guy who was the other reggae element, a guy called Ben, decided to make just a reggae sound. So we split with the other guys and we called it Zion Train. Then Ben stopped to do his day job and went to do television production. So I continued with the soundsystem and slightly later through a soundsystem booking I met some of the early members of Zion Train, Colin Cod and Dave Tench. Together we started making music. We put some money together and got us a studio. Then slowly over the years started making our own music. Releasing it on our own label. Designing our artwork and distributing our own music. We always been very into the D.I.Y (Do It Yourself) thing, express yourself with your own voice through your own means, because that's the best way of expression. It's the purest form of getting your voice over, could be anyone's voice, but it's the best way of expressing it.

GLM: True. What about some of the people that you have been working with over the years like Dubdadda for example ?

NP: Well, there's lots of people directly with Zion Train for example the vocalists that we're working with live on stage are Molara, who you saw last night in Stockholm, and Fitta Warri, the Jamaican chanter.

GLM: Who now lives in Germany ?

NP: Yeah, who now lives in Germany. Then we have Earl 16 who we done some releases with and he's also doing some stage shows with us. Kenny Knots who you might know from the UK from Conscious Sounds releases and also Rasheda who we've just been working with this year. Dubdadda is also a guest vocalist and then last year I worked with Gentleman. I worked with Beenie Man and Gregory Isaacs. UB40, I produced the UB40 album last year. So I work with a lot of reggae artists but then also with unusual and different artists like I did a little work Michael Stockhausen, who's the son of Karl Heinz Stockhausen the founder of the music called kraut. He's a trumpet player but he's based in Cologne and I did a little work with him recently. Then various odd different musicians who we do a lot of work with.

GLM: Your music is very dub minded and is actually best fit for soundsystem play who you also have one of your own. Could you tell us a little about the Abassi Hi Power Soundsystem ?

NP: Abassi is a 12.000 watt custom built soundsystem with the bass ends built by Jah Tubbys in London. The midrange is JBL's and the top end is build by a guy called Fred Davidson in Wales but to my specifications so built on my order. I play sessions not too far away from home because traveling with the soundsystem is very hard work. Abassi has been in Europe for about three and a half years and we probably done thirty five dances in that time and that's conservative estimated. I brought the soundsystem out of the UK. This is my third soundsystem set and I call it Abassi. I give each set a name because it's a thing of devotion as soundsystem is and a commercial thing as well rather than just for those who just absolutly love the music. So it's lots of hard work. We fix and repair the amps ourself, lift them ourself, we drive the soundsystem around in our truck. So it's hard work. I do that and Dubdadda is my main MC, Fitta Warri is my second MC and also a guy called King B out of Milan who helps me with the soundsystem, the truck and things. It's very nice but hard work.

GLM: You also have two record labels that you mentioned earlier on as well...

NP: There's two label. There's Deep Root which is just a vinyl release only label at the moment. It's been running for five years and we have fourteen seven inch releases and three ten inches releases with more to come this year. Again it follows with the soundsystem dub with a vocal and dub of the same tune on the record or several vocal pieces and one dub on the same tune on the record in case of a ten inch. Then the second label Universal Egg is more representative of the artists who want to produced a long playing record like Vibronics, Jah Free, Zion Train, Extremadura, Love Grocer and Dubdadda. All those artists have worked with Universal Egg and Universal Egg have been running since 1991. We're on our thirty ninth long playing release and we have twenty single releases. We're entirely independent and have always been one hundred percent independent, self funded and doing all the work ourselfs. Mainly moved by working with different partners in different places for different aspects of the world. That's good. It's good for expression.

GLM: What about future works ?

NP: Well, I've been working with a band called Dub Collective out of Croatia. We have just recorded an album for them which I think I will probably be release quite soon. We have a project on our own called the Abassi Allstars which is myself producing, the Zion Train brass section Dave Hake and Bigga playing the brass parts and several vocalists which as Fitta Warri, Junior Kigwa an african vocalist I'm working with, Dubdadda contributes with vocals, Sanae a vocalist from Yokohama and I'll be producing a couple of album of that. Then tour a little bit with that as well. It's more like a showcase tour. Promoting three or four upcoming roots artists on my productions but with their voices which is enough to do.

I've been doing a lot of touring. I've open a lot of doors for other people to step through, so a little bit of that, exposing the works of a few other voices. I get to met lots of very interesting people like I had the chance in Stockholm to met a Japanese girl, a Ugandan guy and a Jamaican girl with good music behind them expressing their voices which is the best thing to offer people inside the form of dub and reggae music. So I think that's a big project for the next couple of years, to keep the labels going, keep spreading the vibes of Zion Train and see how things devolop.

GLM: Alright, thank you very much. Give thanks.

NP: Thank you. Thank you for your time. It's been a pleassure.

All photos are used with kind permission of Wobblyweb.com

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